Help Make A Difference For Animals
The Liberia Animal Welfare & Conservation Society will be hosting an impressive and massive World Animal Day celebration in Foya City, Lofa County, Liberia to bring about increased awareness about the plight and welfare of animals.
The event will be held in Foya City on October 4 and we’re expecting around 2,000 people to attend the celebration including students from the 32 schools where LAWCS is implementing humane education.
The program will begin with a parade through the main streets of Foya City followed by an indoor program.
- Contact Name: Morris Darbo
- Contact Email: lawslofa001@yahoo.com
- Location: Foya City
- Organised by: Liberia Animal Welfare & Conservation Society
The celebration was attended by key stakeholders from the district including the District Education Officer, the District Agriculture Officer, The District Health Officer, the District Commissioner, the City major, the paramount chief of the district, teachers, animal owners, community members, the district FDA Officer, etc.
The program was celebrated under the theme “Help make a difference for animals in Liberia”.
We used the day to create awareness about animals and their plight, to motivate people to celebrate and appreciate our relationship with animals and the ways in which animals enrich our lives.
All of the speakers thanked LAWCS for organising the wonderful program and asked that LAWCS extends its awareness program to other parts of the district, county and country at large.
We also encouraged the audience to speak out and ensure the humane treatment of companion animals, farm animals and to advocate for the protection of the habitats that are home to wild animals.
Liberia faces many challenges after the terrible civil war that ended in 2003 and is one of the poorest countries in the world. The recovery process means we are faced with high unemployment rate, poor infrastructure and low literacy rate. The Ebola crisis in 2014/2015 added to the Liberia’s problems killing over 4,000 people nationwide and affected every sector of the country.
Amidst all of these enormous challenges to national stability, it’s not surprising that animal protection a priority issue. Animal protection is a new concept in Liberia and, currently, many animals suffer needlessly.
Animals are viewed by many people as nothing more than food, property and commodities and can be treated in any way without regard to their welfare and well-being. The country’s people fail to understand that animals are living things just like us – they feel pain and suffer.
Because many people in our country do not value the lives of animals:
- Hundreds of farm animals such as chickens, goats, cows, sheep, etc are treated with extreme cruelty
- Hundreds of cats and dogs are stray or neglected and left to look after themselves
- Thousands of wild animals are killed indiscriminately and their young are kept as pets and sold illegally on the black market every day
- The habitats of wild animals are destroyed on a massive scale by logging activities with no regard for the animals that live there.
- The people of Liberia fail to know that we cannot live without animals and that we depend upon animals just as much as they depend upon us.
On October 4, the only registered and recognized locally-based animal protection organization, Liberia Animal Welfare & Conservation Society, organized a massive celebration bringing together over 2,000 schoolchildren, stakeholders, community leaders and animal owners.
The celebration was organized to bring about a robust awareness about the plight of animals and the contribution of animals to humans. Every speaker at the event appreciated LAWCS for organizing the historic and impressive event which has acted as a catalyst for people to rethink their attitude and behaviour towards animals and to start improving conditions for the animals in our lives, our communities and the wild.